Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
In a bowl, combine the flour and cream of tartar.
Make the batter
Add the milk mixture, egg, and sugar to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and dissolves the baking soda to start the rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas that lightens the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic partner to the baking soda, producing gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crumb brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Mix until smooth, then bake promptly. Baking soda and cream of tartar begin releasing gas as soon as they are wet and acidic. Once combined, the batter should go into the oven without delay, so the gas is trapped by the setting structure rather than escaping.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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